Mary Cocchiarella v. Donald Driggs, 884 N.W.2d 621 (2016)

Citation: Mary Cocchiarella v. Donald Driggs, 884 N.W.2d 621 (2016)
Parent Document: Mary Cocchiarella v. Donald Driggs, 884 N.W.2d 621 (2016)
Jurisdiction: Minnesota (state)
Effective Date: 2016-08-31
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/4252990/mary-cocchiarella-v-donald-driggs/ ↗

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DIETZEN, Justice.
The question presented in this appeal is whether a person must physically occupy a dwelling in a residential building to qualify as a “residential tenant” under Minnesota’s unlawful exclusion or removal statute, MinmStat. § 504B.375 (2014). Appellant Mary Cocchiarella brought an unlawful exclusion petition under the statute to enforce her agreement with respondent Donald Driggs to rent an apartment located in Hennepin County. Driggs requested and received the first month’s rent and a security deposit, and agreed to rent the residential premises to Cocchiarella. He later refused to deliver physical possession of the premises to her. The housing referee recommended granting Driggs’s motion to dismiss, concluding that Cocchiarella did not qualify as a “residential tenant” under the unlawful exclusion statute because she was not physically “occupying” the residential premises, see MinmStat. § 504B.001, subd. 12 (2014). The district court adopted the referee’s decision, and *623the court of appeals affirmed. For the reasons that follow, we reverse the dismissal and remand to the district court for further proceedings.

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